On Saturday night, when I was getting my eight-year-old daughter to sleep, she told me she loved the overnight train journeys home to visit family. Little did we expect to be rudely awakened some four hours later by a series of loud noises and jerks. In that moment between sleep and wakefulness, the first thought that came to mind was derailment. As my husband and I scrambled to catch our daughter before she fell from her berth, I could not believe the train I was on had met with an accident.
As it drew to a laboured stop, my instinct was to get the family ready to jump out if need be. But jump out where and how? The other passengers too were in a daze, just coming to terms with the disruption of what was supposed to be an uneventful night.
Some headed for the doors of the bogie. It probably took just a couple of minutes to get them to open but it seemed like a lifetime. Those who got down, to have a look outside, reported that a few coaches had derailed. Minutes ticked by and frantic enquiries were made of whoever went past.
As journalists, we become fairly inured to news of accidents but when I reached the door and saw that the bogie ahead had tilted did it really sink in that we had had a very narrow escape from what would have been a major disaster.
By this time, we had heard that we were close to the Karukutty station. Many passengers had already disembarked, and were walking in the direction of the station. We too got out. And realised no pictures prepare you for the real thing. Four bogies ahead of ours had derailed and two of those that came behind. They seemed to be almost lying on the other track. The rail tracks had bent and come off the sleepers. A number of policemen and railway employees were at the scene, trying to determine the extent of the damage.
I tried to get a policeman who had been on duty on the train to tell me if there were any casualties or injuries. Eight bogies had derailed, he told me, but none had been injured. Taking heart from what we heard, we joined the stream of people being helped by the police personnel to reach the national highway where we could find other ways of reaching our destinations. Safe.
